Agenda item

Councillor Damian White, Cabinet member for Housing, introduced the report

Cabinet was informed that the Housing Services Asset Management Strategy (AMS) set out a framework within which the Council was proposing to manage, maintain and invest in its housing stock.  The strategy outlined how capital investment, cyclical maintenance and repairs service would be managed to ensure that homes were safe, secure and well maintained for the benefit of residents.

The report before Cabinet was to outline the policy aspects of managing and maintaining the Council’s housing stock and was aligned to the detailed review of the HRA Business Plan.  This had previously been considered by Members in February 2016 and this was a follow-on report.  The report presented the criteria and proposals for investment in the Council’s housing stock that were used to support the business plan assumptions.

The revised strategy was attached to the report as an appendix to it.

Reasons for the decision:

As a large-scale owner of built assets it was essential for the Council to have an Asset Management Strategy (AMS) to provide a structure and rationale to direct and inform the decisions and assumptions used for the Business Plan.  The AMS also set out the parameters for the physical management of the buildings (housing) owned by the Council in its capacity as a landlord.  It was also intended to reference the Housing Service’s position with regard to growth and regeneration.

Other options considered:

To continue with the existing asset management strategy:  REJECTED – The existing asset management strategy related to the regime associated with the Decent Homes programme which had now come to an end.  Changes in funding assumptions within the HRA had led to a significant reduction in available resources therefore investing on the basis of a predetermined life cycle was unsustainable.

Cabinet:

1          Approved the Housing Services Asset Management Strategy as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report.

2          Delegated to the Interim Director of Housing authority to make any revisions to the strategy that might be deemed necessary following resident feedback  

3          Noted the HRA Major Works Capital Programme detailed in the HRA Budget for 2016/2017 and the HRA Major Works Capital Programme 2016/17 – 2018/19 which would be subject to full Council final ratification.